June 07, 2010

Blackhawks TV: Another win, another Chicago ratings high

WMAQ-Ch. 5's telecast of the Chicago Blackhawks' critical Game 5 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals was seen, on average, in more than 910,000 area homes, according to Nielsen Media Research overnight ratings.

For sports fans, Sunday's hockey game ran up against the NBA Finals' Game 2 on ABC. The Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics' telecast on Chicago's WLS-Ch. 7 averaged a 7.3 local household rating and 11.6 share in this market over that same three-hour block. In other words, even in Chicago opposite the Hawks and Flyers, the Celtics and Lakers surpassed what was the highest-rated Blackhawks game in recent memory until this postseason (a 7.1 on cable's Comcast SportsNet Chicago in the 2009 conference finals), a testimonial to the strength of that sport's fan base.

In the nation's 56 metered markets, Game 5 of this first-ever Stanley Cup finals matchup of the National Hockey League's two largest single-team television markets, produced a 4.0 household rating and 7 percent share of those watching TV.

It was the best rating for a non-overtime fifth game of the Stanley Cup finals since a
4.5 household rating for Carolina and Detroit on ABC in 2002. Last
year's Game 5 between Detroit and Pittsburgh averaged a 2.6 and
three-overtime Game 5 in 2008 between the same two teams averaged a 4.3
overnight rating.

Sunday's Lakers-Celtics basketball game on ABC, meanwhile, averaged a 10.9 overnight household rating among the same metered markets, about a 10 percent increase over Game 2 of the NBA Finals and the best Game 2 overnight rating in six years.

Chicago viewership for the Hawks' 7-4 Game 5 victory over the Flyers was up and down through the three hours, seeming to indicate some viewers defected during intermissions between periods then returned with resumption of play. Viewership peaked in the final 15 minutes with a 33.4 percent household rating and 47.5 percent share.

Winning helps. Chicago cable and satellite viewers tuned out early in Versus' coverage of the Blackhawks Game 4 5-3 loss at Philadelphia, with household ratings here peaking at 17.56 in the quarter-hour between 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. en route to a 14.7 household rating average.

The 26.0 household rating is an indication of growing interest in the Blackhawks, who shunned home TV telecasts as recently as three years ago and had become an afterthought among most Chicagoans. But there is considerable room for growth still before they approach the TV popularity of pro football's Chicago Bears.

But with the Blackhawks one victory away from winning their first Stanley Cup title since April 16, 1961 -- the night before NFL quarterback-turned-broadcaster Norman "Boomer" Esiason was born -- their audience will grow for Game 6 on Channel 5 on Wednesday.

Comments

The NHL ratings are a lot more impressive than the NBA ratings as you've got to consider the very bottom where the NHL has come from to how high its reached now.

So many people who ignored hockey before are taking an interest in it now specifically in Chicago and Philadelphia. I've always felt like the NHL needs to get these two cities on the map so that their audience can one day get to the NBA's level which I think it will b/c its growing at a very fast rate right now. Its going to take 10 years though b/c there's still some teams that need to see the Cup.

The Blackhawks are the NHL's biggest draw right now and if they become a dynasty their drawing power will shatter Detroit in the coming years especially when they face Alex Ovechkin and Crosby. Imagine those series!

About this blog

This is an expansion of the Chicago Tribune column I have written since April 2005, and the columns I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times and Los Angeles’ Daily News for two decades before that. It’s TV, radio, newspapers and whatever, both locally and nationally. Beyond sharing what crosses my desk—and my mind—this will be a venue for you to share your takes with me as well as with each other. About Phil Rosenthal